A Russian citizen is being held inside a hotel captured by suspected Islamist militants in central Mali, the Russian Embassy in the capital Bamako said on Friday.
"We have confirmed information that a Russian is in the hotel," Interfax news agency quoted embassy press attache Victor Gorelov as saying. Militants were holding as many as 10 hostages after carrying out a deadly attack on the hotel used by United Nations staff, Malian army and defence spokesmen said.